Card aligning apparatus for statistical machines



A. THOMAS Aug. 7, 1956 CARD ALIGNING APPARATUS FOR STATISTICAL MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheer 1 Filed May 11, 1953 Inventor Mfr/w? THU/VA 5 A Home y Aug. 7, 1956 THOMAS 2,757,928

CARD ALIGNING APPARATUS FOR STATISTICAL MACHINES Filed May 11, 1953 3 Sheets-Shem 2.

Inventor ARTHUR THOMAS Attorney 7, 1956 A. THOMAS 2,757,928

CARD ALIGNING APPARATUS FOR STATISTICAL MACHINES Filed May 11, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheer 5 Attorney United States Patent Office CARD ALIGNING APPARATUS FOR STATISTICAL MACHINES Application May 11, 1953, Serial No. 354,099

Claims priority, application Great Britain August 21, 1952 7 Claims. (Cl. 271--53) This invention relates to statistical machines and in particular to apparatus for aligning a statistical record card in a sensing position at which it is held stationary against a retractable card stop and for feeding the card from the sensing position on retraction of the card stop.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved apparatus of the kind above mentioned whereby a card in a stationary sensing position thereof is aligned against a retractable card stop and after sensing thereof is firmly gripped between pairs of rollers which start the card moving quickly from the stationary-sensing position thereof.

According to the present invention there is provided for aligning a statistical record card in a sensing position and for feeding the card from the sensing position, apparatus comprising a retractable card stop against which a card is held stationary for sensing, co-operating feed rollers to advance a card towards said stop and spaced from the stop by a distance such that when the leading edge of the card is located against the stop the trailing edge of the cardis located freely in the bight of the feed rollers and is restrained thereby against movement away from the stop, driven and freely rotatable eject rollers located between the stop and the feed rollers, a pivoted support for the freely rotatable eject roller, a light spring acting on said support normally to urge the free rotatable eject roller towards the 'driven eject roller, thereby to maintain the leading edge of the card against said stop, and pressure means operable on retraction of the stop from the card arresting position thereof to impose on the support an increased resilient pressure whereby the card is firmly gripped between the eject rollers and is removed thereby from the sensing position.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a pictorial view of apparatus according to the invention, and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on line II-II, Fig. .1.

Referring .to the drawings, perforated record cards are fed one at a time from a magazine 1, Fig. 2, by a picker, not shown, and are delivered to pairs of super posed feed rollers 2, 3 which deliver the card in turn to two pairs of superposed rollers 4, 5 hereinafter referred to as a first set of rollers, 'the rollers 4, 5 co-operating to move the card into a sensing chamber formed by a top perforated plate 6, and a bottom perforated plate 7, the card as vit is moved between the plates '6, 7, being engaged by a second set of rollers comprising two pairs of superposed rollers 8, 9 which move the leading edge of the card into engagement with a retractable card stop 10, Fig. 2. The card stop 10 is moved into and out of the path of the card by any suitable mechanism, not shown, as is well understood in the art.

The rollers 4 of the first set of rollers are each freely 2,757,923 Patented Aug. 7, 1956 rotatable on a pin 11 carried by one arm of a bellcrank lever 12 pivoted at 13 to a frame-plate 14, Fig. 1, the roller 4 being urged towards the roller 5 by a spring 15. The lower roller 5 of each pair is positively rotated by gearing 16, Fig. 2, in well known manner.

The rollers 4 and 5 are spaced from the card stop 10 by a distance such that when, as shown in Fig. 2, the leading edge of the card is located against the card stop 10, the trailing edge of the card is freely located in the bight of the rollers and is thus restrained by the rollers against movement away from the card stop. By this arrangement there is avoided the use of moving fingers to engage the trailing edge of the card and retain it in position against the card stop and accordingly, in apparatus according to the present invention, no time is wasted in effecting operation of such fingers.

The rollers 9 of the second set of rollers are positive ly rotated by gearing 17 and the rollers 8 are each carried by ball bearings 18 freely rotatable on a pin 19 carried by one arm of a bell-crank lever 20 pivoted on a stub spindle 21 in a frame plate 22, the roller 8 being urged towards the roller 9 by a light spring 23 so that the roller 8 will co-act with the roller 9 to feed the leading edge of a card into engagement with the card stop 10. When, however, the card is arrested by the card stop 10 the pressure exerted by the spring 23 is insufficient for the card to be gripped between the rollers 8 and 9 and there is therefore no tendency for the rollers 8 and 9 to cause the card to buckle against the stop 10.

When the card has been fed into the sensing position with its leading edge arrested by the card stop 10, its lateral edges are engaged by normally retracted fingers 24, 25 supported respectively on rocking spindles 26, 27. The fingers 24, 25 are supported for rocking movement towardseac'h other and the rocking spindles 26, 27 each have secured thereto an arm 28 for engagement by operating arms 29 secured to a cross shaft 30, Fig. 1, supported by brackets 31 secured to a fixed frame plate 32. The cross shaft also has secured thereto an arm 33 engaged by a further arm 34 supported for pivotal movement about the axis of a spindle 35 extending from the frame plate 32. The arm 34 has connected thereto a lever 36 which in turn is connected by a link 37 with a rocking arm 38 pivoted at 39 and operated by a cam follower 40 and cam 41, the cam 41 being secured to a shaft 42 from which, by

' means not shown, actuation of the card stop 10 is effected. The shaft 42 .is rotated in any suitable manner, not shown, from the main drive of the machine to be, as will be well understood in the art, either continuously rotated so that a sensing operation is effected once for each revolution of the shaft or, by means of a clutch device, the shaft may be rotated only at such intervals as may be determined by the setting of the machine whereby the card stop may retain a card in the stationary position for two or more sensing operations to be effected thereon.

The cam 41 is so arranged that just after a card has been arrested by the card stop 10, the shaft 30 is rocked thereby raising the arms 29 out of engagement with the arms 28, thus permitting the arms 28 to move upwards, as viewed in Fig. 1, and so permit the fingers 24 simultaneously to move inwards towards each other under the lateral alignment of cards is effected by a predetermined lateral edge thereof.

As was stated above, the upper rollers 8 of the second set are urged towards the card only with a light spring pressure and this pressure is such that the card is capable of being moved laterally under the control of fingers 24, 25 in the manner just described.

On completion of a sensing operation and movement of the card stop to the retracted position thereof it is desired that the card be fed from the sensing position as quickly as possible and with a high rate of acceleration. According to the present invention this is accomplished by increasing the pressure between the upper rollers 8 and the lower rollers 9 in timed relation with the downward movement of the card stop 10. To this end there is provided a pressure member 46 to co-operate with each bell crank 20, the pressure members 46 being freely pivoted on the stub spindle 21 and each carrying a lateral abutment 47 arranged to engage a bell crank to urge the roller 8 towards the roller 9. The pressure member 46 is urged in a counter clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 by a relatively strong spring 48 which acts to increase the resilient pressure applied to the bell crank 20 by the light spring 23. The pressure member is normally retained in inactive position at which the abutment 47 thereon is disengaged from the bell crank 20 by an arm 49 movable with a rocking shaft 50 mounted on the frame plates 22 and to one end of which is secured an arm 51, Fig. 1, engageable by one arm of a bell-crank 52 pivoted at 53 and supporting a cam follower 54 engaging a cam 55 on the shaft 42. Thus when the shaft 42 is operated to effect retraction of the card stop 10, the cam 55, in timed relation with the downward movement of the card stop, rocks the bell crank 52 and so moves the bell crank clockwise as viewed in Fig. 1, thereby permitting the pressure member 46, under the control of spring 48, to move its abutment 47 into engagement with the bell crank 20 so that the card is firmly gripped between the rollers 8 and 9 at a time just after the card stop has been retracted from the path of the card whereupon the rollers 8 and 9 co-operate to feed the card from the card chamber with a high initial velocity at which it is delivered to further feed rollers 56, 57, Fig. 2, by which it is delivered to a receiver, or to a further sensing device, or to some other predetermined succeeding position in the machine as may be desired.

I claim:

1. For aligning a statistical record card in a sensing position and for feeding it therefrom, apparatus comprising a retractable card stop against which a card is held stationary for sensing, a pair of feed rollers cooperating to advance a card towards said stop and spaced from the stop by a distance such that the trailing edge of the card leaves the rollers just as the leading edge is engaged by the stop thereby to restrain the card against movement away from the stop, a second pair of co-operating eject rollers located between the stop and said pair of feed rollers uninterruptedly to engage a card arrested by the stop and consisting of a driven and a freely rotatable roller, a pivoted support for the freely rotatable roller, a light spring acting on the support to cause continuous cooperation between the pair of eject rollers while permitting lateral movement of the card therebetween, a strong spring relievably coupled to the support to augment pressure between said driven and freely rotatable eject rollers when a card is to be ejected from the temporarily arrested position thereof, and restraining means acting normally to relieve the pressure of said strong spring from the support and operable in timed relation with said stop to permit application of the strong spring to the support on retraction of the stop from the path of a card arrested thereby.

2. For aligning a statistical record card in a sensing position and for feeding it therefrom, apparatus comprising a retractable card stop against which a card is held stationary for sensing, a pair of feed rollers co-operating to advance a card towards said stop and spaced from the stop by a distance such that the trailing edge of the card leaves the rollers just as the leading edge is engaged by the stop thereby to restrain the card against movement away from the stop, a pair of co-operating eject rollcrs located between the stop and said pair of eject rollers uninterruptedly to engage a card arrested by the stop and consisting of a driven and a freely rotatable roller, a pivoted bell-crank one'arm of which supports said freely rotatable roller, a light spring acting on the bellcrank to cause continuous co-operation between the pair of eject rollers while permitting lateral movement of the card therebetween, a lever freely pivoted about the pivotal axis of said bell-crank, an abutment carried by said lever for engagement with the second arm of the bell crank, a strong spring urging said lever into co-operation with said bell-crank, and restraining means co-operating with said lever normally to disengage it from co-operation with the bell-crank thereby to relieve the pressure of the strong spring from the support and operable in timed relation with said stop to permit co-operation between said lever and bell-crank thereby to permit application of said strong spring to the bell-crank on retraction of the stop from the path of a card arrested thereby.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the restraining means comprises a rocking arm.

4. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein lateral movement of a card engaged by the pair of eject rollers is effected by means including normally retracted fingers supported for pivotal movement towards each other to engage the edges of a card normal to the leading and trailing edges thereof, a finger stop to determine the extent of movement of one finger, a spring for each finger tending to urge it towards the other finger, the spring for the finger which co-operates with the finger stop being stronger than the spring for the other finger, said weaker spring on operation of the fingers acting to cause a card to be aligned against the finger controlled by said stronger spring, a control arm for each finger to retain it in the retracted position thereof, and operating means actuated during control of said freely rotatable roller by said light spring to permit simultaneous movement of the fingers under control of the springs co-operating therewith.

5. For aligning a statistical record card in a sensing position and for feeding it therefrom, apparatus comprising a retractable card stop against which a card is held stationary for sensing, a set of pairs of superposed feed rollers to engage a card at intervals between the edges thereof which are normal to the leading and trailing edges thereof, said pairs of feed rollers co-operating to advance a card towards said stop and being spaced from the stop by a distance such that the trailing edge of the card leaves the rollers just as the leading edge is engaged by the stop thereby to restrain the card against movement away from the stop, a set of pairs of superposed cooperating eject rollers to engage a card at intervals between the edges thereof which are normal to the leading and trailing edges thereof and being located between the stop and said set of pairs of feed rollers uninterruptedly to engage a card arrested by the stop, each of eject rollers consisting of a driven and a freely rotatable roller, a pivoted support for each freely rotatable roller, said supports being pivoted independently of each other, a light spring acting on each support to cause continuous cooperation between the pairs of eject rollers While permitting lateral movement of the card therebetween, a strong spring relievably coupled to each support to augment pressure between said driven and freely rotatable rollers when a card is to be ejected from the temporarily arrested position thereof, and restraining means acting normally to relieve the pressure of said strong springs from said supports and operable in timed relation with said stop to permit application of the strong springs to the supports on retraction of the stop from the path of a card arrested thereby.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5, wherein lateral movement of a card engaged by the pairs of eject rollers is effected by means including normally retracted fingers supported for pivotal movement towards each other to engage the edges of a card normal to the leading and trailing edges thereof, a finger stop to determine the extent of movement of one finger, a spring for each finger tending to urge it towards the other finger, the spring for the finger which co-operates with the finger stop being stronger than the spring for the other fingers, said weaker spring on operation of the fingers acting to cause a card to be aligned against the finger controlled by said stronger spring, a control arm for each finger to retain it in the retracted position thereof, and operating means actuated during control of said freely rotatable rollers by said light springs to permit simultaneous movement of the fingers under control of the springs co-operating therewith.

7. For aligning a statistical record card in a sensing position and for feeding it therefrom, apparatus comprising a retractable card stop against which a card is held stationary for sensing, a set of pairs of superposed feed rollers to engage a card at intervals between the edges thereof which are normal to the leading and trailing edges thereof, said pairs of feed rollers co-operating to advance a card towards said stop and being spaced from the stop by a distance such that the trailing edge of the card leaves the rollers just as the leading edge is engaged by the stop thereby to restrain the card against movement away from the stop, a set of pairs of superposed co-operating eject rollers to engage a card at intervals between the edges thereof which are normal to the leading and trailing edges thereof and being located between said stop and said set of pairs of feed rollers uninterruptedly to engage a card arrested by the stop, each pair of eject rollers consisting of a driven and a freely rotatable roller, a pivoted bell-crank for each pair of rollers of said second set, one arm of each bell-crank supporting one of said freely rotatable rollers, a light spring acting on each bell-crank to cause continuous co-operation bebetween the pairs of eject rollers while permitting lateral movement of the card therebetween, a lever for each bellcrank freely pivoted about the pivotal axis of the bellcrank, an abutment carried by each said lever for engagement with the second arm of the bell-crank with which the lever co-operates, a strong spring connected with each said lever to urge the lever into co-operation with its bellcrank, and a rocking arm co-operating with each lever normally to disengage it from co-operation with its bellcrank thereby to relieve the pressure of the strong springs from the bell-cranks and operable in timed relation with said stop thereby to permit application of the strong springs to the bell-cranks on retraction of the stop from the path of a card arrested thereby.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,566,951 Mills a- Sept. 4, 1951 2,693,357 Davidson Nov. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 389,924 Great Britain Mar. 30, 1933 445,376 Great Britain Apr. 8, 1936 

